Archive of ‘Environment’ category

10
Feb
2016

MOTHER: Caring for 7 Billion

categories: Environment, Social Transformation
I have been helping a client develop the presentation he will soon deliver to a local college, on the general theme of climate change with a focus on what we, as individuals, can do to be more conscious in our use of energy. In my research on his behalf, I came across a film entitled Mother: Caring for 7 Billion. I watched it. And now I recommend that you do the same. I am posting a synopsis of the film taken from their website, which contains much more information about the film, as well as instructions on how you can buy the DVD or stream it from Vimeo and Amazon. This film re-ignites the essential conversation we need to have about population growth and its implications for societies throughout the world.

 

MOTHER: Caring for 7 Billion

This film breaks a 40-year taboo by bringing to light an issue that silently fuels our most pressing environmental, humanitarian and social crises — population growth. It is a critical time to talk about this subject because for the first time, in 2011 the world population reached 7 billion; a startling seven-fold increase since the first billion occurred 200 years ago.

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Population was once at the top of the international agenda, dominating the first Earth Day and the subject of best-selling books like The Population Bomb. Since the 1960s the world population has nearly doubled, adding more than 3 billion people. At the same time, talking about population has become politically incorrect because of the sensitivity of the issues surrounding the topic — religion, economics, family planning and gender inequality. Yet it is an issue we cannot afford to ignore. (more…)

08
Feb
2016

Good for You. Good for our Earth.

categories: Environment, Social Transformation

Gerald W. Bernstein offers us a pathway to healing our disconnect from Nature, a condition that may well be at the root of our disregard for our environment. As with many hot button issues facing our society today, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and paralyzed by negativity, contradictory information, and the sheer scope of the issue. Jerry offers us a simple, practical, doable action that cuts right to the core of things: healing our disconnect from Nature. It is so sensible and dogma-free as to be un-common in its sanity. We cannot kill what we know and love, can we?

Good for You. Good for our Earth

 by Gerald W. Bernstein

We are in deep shit. In case you didn’t notice, the level of CO2 in the atmosphere exceeded 400 Parts per Million (PPM) for much of this past Spring. This wasn’t considered “newsworthy” except in some environmental postings even though it is the highest level yet recorded. Any level above 350 PPM starts gambling with atmospheric and glacial responses: 450 PPM is a level climatologists warn against due to almost certain adverse long-term impacts. And we continue to expand carbon accumulation in the atmosphere at a rate approaching 2 PPM per year.

Now that you know the facts, how do you feel? Frustrated, angry, fearful, overwhelmed, despair? This is the challenge for concerned individuals, because our desire to do something is overcome with despair and associated emotions. They are lousy motivators. Feel it — outward breath, shoulders hunched. (more…)

27
Aug
2015

Corporations Are Not Evildoers

categories: Business, Environment, Social Transformation

Poor corporations! Many of them take big hits in the progressive, activist media and on social media. Monsanto, Nestlé, Halliburton, Shell — these and so many more are alleged to have committed serious infractions against human and planetary well-being. And this short list of vilified corporations points only to individual corporations. We also have to contend with villages of them, known as “industries”: oil, coal, insurance, pharmaceutical, banking, financial services, cigarette, and, well, poor things indeed!

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Actually, corporations have done nothing. However, people who work within corporations may be evildoers. That’s the point I want to make, but more about that in a moment.

Corporations are inanimate entities; they cannot speak or act on their own, even though by definition they have their own legal personality that makes them separate from their owners. Yes, the recent Supreme Court decision, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, does grant corporate entities with a kind of “personhood” in that they are free to make political expenditures without restriction. Nonetheless, a corporation does not reach for a pen to write a check. (more…)

19
Apr
2015

CaliforniaSolar: An Important New Website

categories: Environment, General Interest

CaliforniaSolar, an important new website for Californians, has just been launched!

Under the stewardship of managing editor Gerald W. Bernstein and with the efforts of a dedicated team of passionate researchers, writers, and bloggers, CaliforniaSolar is a one-stop site for news, policy developments, analysis, research, and data on the fast growth solar industry in California.

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Californian’s support for solar-generated energy has made it one of the world leaders in this form of clean energy. If rated alone, it would be the 5th largest solar-generating country in the world; and despite recent and rapid growth in many other states, California still is home to over half the installations and annual capacity additions in the United States. (more…)